Big-Firm Alumni Have Van, Will Practice

Three former big-firm attorneys in Atlanta have made a name for themselves in a way that would have been hard to predict years ago.

Jamie Hernan, Christopher Taylor and Jerome Lee have not only left King & Spalding and formed their own firm but bought a van in which they drive around and meet with clients on legal matters. In fact, it’s not just a van but a 32-foot fiberglass recreational vehicle they call the Abogadomovil (Spanish for Lawyermobile). It is emblazoned with the larger-than-life faces of the three boyish-looking barristers and the phrase “Los Abogados Para Ti” (“The Lawyers For You”), reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in a lengthy feature article about how they established their thriving practice.

In the five years since the three left their former firm’s 49th floor and started marketing their services to day laborers on the Spanish-speaking streets, they have become renowned local practitioners.

They are particularly recognized in their controversial field of upholding immigrants’ Constitutional rights in a time of anti-immigration backlash, the newspaper writes. An early breakthrough came when they persuaded the police chief of a local municipality to rein in an officer who was singling out Latino cabdrivers for tickets, earning a thank-you letter—and an ongoing stream of referrals—from the Mexican Consulate in Atlanta.

Criminal defense, family law, personal injury and worker’s compensation are also mainstays of their 16-person firm’s practice.

Although the three say they didn’t go out on their own expecting to make money, they have done so, the newspaper reports. “They say they make more now than if they had stayed at King & Spalding and achieved junior partner.”